The Forbidden Kiss
by LynMcCallum
Summary: This will probably be one of many within a series. A holiday gone wrong soon changes the lives of Kaden and Kelryn Jenson-Moore. Past secrets are coming back to haunt Riley and now she once again requires Directorate help and this time more urgently than ever. Will Riley be able to protect her children or will they protect themselves?
1. Chapter 1

**_This is a little idea that came to mind after reading Moon Sworn and I just had the biggest urge ever to start writing a story about Riley's twins. After all, her newly formed pack isn't normal by any standards and the twin's family is odd to say the least. After all, they will end up with one mother and three fathers and that's gotta be a little confusing, right? And so, Riley's had a long period of bliss of having her wishes fulfilled though not in the way that she would've imagined it as Dia had once put it, but now, something's threatening to tear her family apart once again and rip her greatest joys out of her life. Will she be able to keep her children out of harm's way the way she wants to by keeping them sheltered? Or will her twins finally rebel and take matters into their own hands?_**

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Chapter 1

Holidays were meant to be relaxing. The whole purpose of a holiday was to soothe the mind and shake away stress or worry. So why did I suddenly find myself bolting halfway across the country back to where I was hoping my brother would be? I thought back to the sheer pain and surprise that rode through me a few hours ago and remembered. That's right; because my twin was in major trouble. It didn't help that I was getting nothing but a numb feeling from him now. Whatever had attacked him earlier had been dangerous and I was thankful for the fact that he was still alive at least. I'd already been running at full speed for at least two hours now and I silently thanked my wolf genes. If I wasn't a wolf shifter, there would've been no way for me to travel this quickly. I could of course have asked Quinn to send his fastest jet my way but even that would've taken time. Running through forests in the dark was the quickest way I could think of. On top of that, as soon as I'd calmed down from the shock of pain I'd immediately turned wolf and bolted out of the reservation where I'd been staying to relax.

When I finally reached the resort where he'd been staying with his most recent girlfriend I was suddenly overwhelmed by the scent of blood: my brother's and a few other people's. I shifted shape back into my human form and for a moment I just sat there gathering my wits. I had to believe that he was alive, I had to. It wasn't as though the line between us had been completely shut down which was a relief in itself. But even if he was alive, he was far from being okay. I tied the shred of cloth which used to be my trousers and shirt around my body covering myself as best as I could. Due to the fact that I hadn't stripped before taking the shape of a wolf, the effect on the clothes was disastrous. My underwear was shredded so badly it was unsalvageable. When I managed to make myself somewhat decent, I padded across the lush lawn towards the scent of blood.

My brother had only left two days ago and he'd been in top shape. While I walked, I tried to think of anyone who would want to abduct him like this but I came up with nothing. So far as I could remember there was no one he'd gotten on the wrong side of. Even if he had, I would know, we told each other everything and especially things that could endanger each other.

The scent of blood grew horrendously stronger as I neared the house that Kade had rented for the week. It seemed that unfortunately for him he wouldn't be spending a week of relaxation. He didn't even manage to spend half of one. As I entered the once beautiful cottage which was now covered with specks of blood with broken furniture in various rooms, I could smell a female presence in the house and the lingering scent of excitement, pain, confusion and anger. Presumably the anger belonged to my brother along with the confusion; the pain was from everyone and the excitement from whoever harmed my brother.

The bedroom was in the worst state. Blood stained the bed and splattered around. Lying on the floor was his newest conquest, lover or whatever you wanted to call her. So far he'd been too flirtatious to start anything serious or even have a serious girlfriend. Janet – I think her name was – was sprawled unconscious on the wooden floor beside the bed. From the angle that she was laying it seemed to me that she'd been knocked unconscious by the bed. Perhaps her head had been smashed during the fight. Looking around the room again the amount of his blood that lingered stunned me. With so much blood gone it was a wonder he wasn't dead. There was practically a puddle of blood on the wooden flooring and I sprinted into the bathroom to heave up my dinner. When I finally managed to recover, I headed over to the landline and called home.

"Hello?" my mum's groggy voice drifted through the receiver.

"Mum," I choked out.

"Kel? What's wrong? What's happened?" she asked worriedly, the sleep completely vanishing from her voice.

"Something's happened to Kade… He's gone and Mum his room isn't pretty." I told her, clamping down on my hysteria.

"Hold on honey, stay calm, where are you?"

"In their bedroom…"

"What's wrong?" I heard Quinn's voice drift through.

"Something's wrong with Kaden." Mum told him. "Can you call Rhoan and Liander?"

"Of course. Who's on the line?"

"Kel." Mum told him and I heard the door shut as Quinn left. "Tell me everything that's happened."

"I… a few hours ago I was sitting on the beach with my friends and all of a sudden I felt it. I felt his pain and I couldn't even think. By the time I could feel again I was already in wolf form. I gathered my wits and just ran all the way here. It's been two hours since then Mum, they could be anywhere by now!"

"Kel calm down!" Mum ordered.

"What's going on?" I heard Rhoan and Dad's voice.

"Dad?" I croaked and I could hear shuffling as the phone was passed over.

"Kel, what's happened?" he asked worriedly.

"Kade's gone…"

"Oh god," he cursed. "Rhoan get the car, Riley please call Jack."

"Quinn's already on it," she told him. I could hear the shuffling on the other side.

"Kel, we'll be there as soon as we can, hold -" I couldn't hear the rest of her sentence because the phone line was suddenly dead.

"Mum? Mum!" I yelled into the receiver. Nope, nothing, zilch. I threw the phone down and calmed down. It was only then that I realised that I wasn't alone in the house any more… I switched to infra-red, a trait I got from Mum and cautiously looked around. My heart practically stopped when I saw what was in the house with me. Two vampires and I didn't recognise either of their scents. From the excitement that I felt from them, I knew that they weren't here to help. I flexed my muscles and waited with a bated breath.

I'd never had a serious fight against a vampire before, let alone two. My parents and relatives had been so overly protective of us that any contact with strangers of the supernatural race was infinitely banned. With the presence that my family held, it was no wonder that others, who were capable of sensing auras, steered away from me and my twin. The only experience I had of fighting with vampires was with my mum, Rhoan and Quinn. Even when I had fought against the trio, separately of course since I had absolutely no hope of winning a fight against all three of them at the same time, they had always held back their true talents. Due to the lack of experience in fighting against vampires, I had a horrid feeling that the upcoming fight was going to be rather nasty and undoubtedly painful.

When they finally appeared they moved faster than I expected. Nonetheless I somehow managed to dodge their initial attack. Suddenly I found my skin tingling and the feeling of wrongness flooded through me. I'd recognise that reaction anywhere. These bastards had silver in their possession which meant that I was in trouble. Wolves were highly sensitive to silver as I'd learned on several accidents while shopping with friends. I leaned backwards just in time to miss the swipe of the silver blade which narrowly skimmed my stomach causing the tingling to increase around that area. I watched them warily and tried to keep both of them in my line of sight but one of them, the one with incredibly greasy hair moved behind me and this time I didn't manage to dodge him in time. The blow to my head had me seeing stars for a moment I stumbled forward, falling to the ground.

The pair laughed. The bastards were laughing at me, mocking me. Pride and anger grew and for a moment I saw red as I let the rage briefly consume me. Without another thought I lashed out with my fist slamming it into his face. Flesh met flesh as I broke the cartilage and bone of his nose. He swore at me and stumbled backwards which was all the distraction I needed. I jumped on his back and snapped his neck. It wouldn't kill the vampire unfortunately but it would leave him in total pain until he managed to heal it.

I dropped just in time and the blade cut my hair. I turned around and watched as strands of my hair fell to the floor. He smirked at me manically as he passed the knife from one hand to the other. He moved swiftly and I couldn't block this one. With the slam of his hand I was sent crashing through the window. Glass cut into my skin and I made sure to bend my knees and roll when I contacted the ground.

I cursed as the glass cut deeper due to the action.

Before I had time to recover, the vampire was there along with the other one who looked royally pissed. Maybe twisting his neck wasn't such a good idea after all. Their hunger and lust rode off them in torrents and I fought back a shudder. I was not going to become one of their victims.

I heard the blade cutting the air and moved at the last minute. It was probably aiming for my chest because now the blade was in my shoulder and that was when the burning began. I couldn't help it, I screamed. This was the most contact I'd ever had with silver after all and I was fairly certain that no matter what I did, this particular wound was going to leave a scar.

The pair laughed again as I crumbled to the floor. In the haze of pain anger surged through my veins once more and I sent the silver blade soaring towards the greasy haired vampire's head with my mind. The blade was embedded straight between the eyes and he fell with a sickening thud. To make sure he stayed down I incinerated him with the magic that I possessed.

This particular trick didn't seem to be inherited from either of my parents and although Kade and I knew that Mum had her suspicions about why we might've been slightly different, she sure as hell never elaborated on it. Somehow, a gut instinct told me that it was linked to one of the gazillion secrets that my family held.

Back to the situation at hand, I wasn't entirely sure of the rules concerning the supernatural community but considering that this was an act of self-defence, I was unlikely to be sentenced to death for killing him.

The other one growled in anger and crashed into me throwing us both to the ground. His head dipped and I moved in time so that his teeth sunk into my shoulder instead of my neck. I cried out in pain and tried to wrench him off but he was stronger than me. He must've fed recently since vampires held the most strength for a short period of time after acquiring fresh blood. Putting more strength into the push, I shoved out with both my arms and my mind. I sent him flying back through the window into the house and I could barely move due to the exhaustion that coursed through me. I shifted shape to stem the bleeding and waited for the vampire to attack me again.

He didn't, and for the next few moments, all there was in the near vicinity was silence and the night breeze sweeping around me. I could feel a slither of pain in my mind and I knew that considering how I'd rarely used my psychic talents – courtesy of my parents – I'd certainly overused them tonight because both my opponents were rather heavy and lifting heavy things with a strengthened force meant more concentration on my behalf. Eventually, once I'd managed to gather my wits, I picked myself up from the ground. Silently I stepped towards the house casting my eyes around me cautiously.

He was gone.

The bastard was gone without a trace.

I shifted back to human form and stumbled towards Janet to inspect her wounds. Her head was bleeding and there were various gashes on her body. Several of them were made by the abductor perhaps but one of them confused me. The one on her arm was definitely caused by Kade. The intent of the injury that lingered held Kade's presence. It was as though he was attacking her. But why would he be attacking her instead of his attacker?

Unless Janet was involved with his abduction…

But that was ridiculous; if she was involved then she wouldn't be lying there unconscious. But I couldn't help but picture the fight that might've occurred. It was possible that it was Kade's blow that caused Janet to crash into the bed which rendered her unconscious. It was possible that he had disabled her to avoid fighting two opponents or more from the looks of things.

I look one last look around and decided that there was nothing more I could find or decipher about this situation. Since there was nothing more that I could do, I settled for sitting down on the floor with my knees drawn up to my chest as I stared at the doorway of the bedroom.

An hour later I heard the noise of a helicopter and as soon as I heard it land, Mum and Dad were by my side fawning over me.

"What happened to you?" Mum demanded worriedly as her hands brushed over my body.

"Two vampires appeared and I guess that they were the ones to cut the phone line. One of them is dead outside and he's nothing but ashes now but the other one is gone." I yawned.

"Riley, there's an ash pile outside." Rhoan said walking into the room and stopped when he took note of the scene around him. A growl ripped from his throat and I felt the anger emitting from him.

"We have to find him, Mum, we have to…" I pleaded. "And the ash pile is my fault."

"I'm glad you're alright." Dad smoothed my hair and hugged me. "None of us would be able to bear losing the both of you in one night. We'll definitely find him, Kel."

"How come the police aren't -" I couldn't finish the sentence because the darkness that I'd been holding at bay suddenly surged and enveloped me.

Unless I'd recently undergone an unknown sex change, it was probably more likely that I'd unconsciously jumped into Kade's head again. It occurred whenever we wanted it or when either of us was feeling an intense emotion. However, the part about the intense emotion tended to be rare. Also, the telepathy between my brother and I hadn't yet reached the point where we actually saw out of each other's eyes unless we willed it. Unconsciously though, both of us would feel what the other was feeling depending on who activated the connection. Sometimes it would be Kade feeling my emotions and what I was going through at a given time, but somehow I seemed to jump into his mind more often than the other way around.

Wherever he was, I could feel the slab of cold metal on his back and someone stroking him. The action was in no way affectionate, but rather bruising and slightly painful. Out of the things I knew about my brother, although he was rather adventurous in his sexual exploits, he did not get off on pain. But it seemed that the person who was stroking him did. Or rather she got off on her partner's pain. At least… I hope his forceful partner was a she. Kade did not bat for that side of the team at all and when we got him out of this, he would no doubt be disturbed about it for weeks.

Kade? I whispered into his mind hoping that he would be able to hear me and that my voice would comfort him somewhat. I waited several moments for a reply and got nothing. For once I couldn't manage to get through further than his surface emotions, I couldn't dig into his mind. When I tried I seemed to hit a fog of some kind. His mind was hazy and the only thing I could think of that would cause that would be drugs. Kade didn't do drugs naturally so that meant that those bastards drugged him to try and prevent telepathic interaction.

Kade! I shouted into his mind hoping to wake him out of his haze. Unfortunately that didn't work either.

Now, now little girl. Didn't anyone teach you that it's rude to interrupt people when they're having fun? A female voice cooed. The voice was cold and excited at the same time. The bitch was having fun torturing my brother like this. She was going to find out that messing with one of us meant that she would have to take on the both of us.

You're not going to get away with this bitch.

You're quite a rude child aren't you? If you're going to continue to curse me like that, then your company is no longer appreciated.

A moment later I felt pain and it wasn't from Kade. Somehow, the woman managed to pass something down the telepathic line between Kade and me. I woke up with a start sitting up too quickly resulting with me feeling light headed. I fell back onto the bed and panted.

"Kel? Are you alright?" Mum asked worriedly as she sat beside me.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I can't reach Kade, he's been drugged up." I grumbled as I forced myself up.

"Don't rush yourself, Kel, just rest a little while. You've just had your first real fight with a vampire you know? You must still be tired." Dad commented.

"Actually, I'm alright about that." I told them and it was surprising even to me how I really felt about it. Now that I thought back on it, I knew that I could've won. I would've won had that vampire not ran away. I suppose that it was only a matter of time that I encountered a vampire like that. After all I was no longer a kid and with my tendency to walk around in the middle of the night it was a wonder I hadn't been attacked already. "Have you got anything about Kade?" I asked frantically.

"Nothing yet, Kel." Mum and Dad shook their heads.

"There's food ready for you downstairs whenever you're ready. You might want to get changed and wash up first though." Mum patted my head as she stood up and left the room.

"I'm so glad you're safe, little Kel." Dad hugged me nuzzling the top of my head.

"Again with the embarrassing nickname, Dad." I laughed as I hugged him back.

"You should count yourself lucky, there've been those with worse names," he chuckled before leaving me on my own. I was glad that I was in my own room rather than a hospital room. I hated hospitals and I hated going near them. The vile scent of antiseptics and medicine always made me feel ill and the odour of the disinfectants were even worse. I counted myself lucky for being a wolf since that made any injuries that I accumulated less serious than it would've been for a human, I didn't have to go to the hospital often thanks to my wolf genes.

I picked myself up out of my bed and headed to the shower. As I washed the blood from my body I gently probed my shoulder and winced. The small stab of pain flared and I sighed. At least the wound wasn't open anymore and I could move my shoulder relatively well. The comforting scent of lavender filled the bathroom and I sat beneath the shower head in content for a while as I washed my hair. After my shower I picked out some clothes from my wardrobe which consisted of combats, and a long sleeved top. I ignored the shoes and padded bare footed out of my room and slid down the banister.

"How're you feeling?" Quinn asked as I walked in.

"Can't you tell?" I wiggled my brows cheekily and he chuckled.

"I can but it is common courtesy to ask," he commented.

"I suppose… I'm feeling alright." I shrugged. "Anxious but alright. Thanks for the food, Dad."

"You're welcome," he smiled.

"You should give your friends a call after you've eaten. Jared called the house wondering whether you'd come home when you just suddenly bolted out." Rhoan pointed out.

"Will do, did he say anything else?"

"I told him you're here so he's going to bring your stuff back."

"Did you tell him that he didn't have to?"

"Yes but he sounded worried."

"Okay." I nodded.

"I'd hate to ruin your appetite, Kelryn, but can you tell us exactly what happened last night?" Quinn asked.

"Sure but the condition is none of you can tell me off for talking with my mouth open." I stated.

"You never listen anyway." Mum rolled her eyes.

"That's beside the point." I scoffed. "Anyway, as I'd mentioned last night. I was sitting on the beach talking with Jared when I suddenly felt it. There was no warning, no foreboding whatsoever. He'd obviously not felt the danger until it was too late because the pain was suddenly there. I think he may have been shot by silver if the tingling feeling I got was anything to go by. Then the pain remained for a while until he passed out. When he passed out I managed to be in my own head again and realised that I was already in wolf form running towards him. When I got there I went to the bedroom and found Janet passed out beside the bed. Then I called you and the vampires appeared cutting the line. I fought and incinerated one of them. I threw the other one away and he ran for it." I reported to them between bites of food. "Thanks again for the amazing food, Dad."

"You need something to replenish after the night you've had. Running so fast is impressive even for a wolf," he smiled.

"When it comes to Kade being in danger I'd run across the world if I have to." I stated with a deadly voice. "Those people are going to wish that they hadn't taken him." I was going to make them pay, especially the bitch who snapped the connection between Kade and I.

"Kel, I want you to listen to me." Mum said sternly. "Don't do anything rash. There are professionals who deal with these things and they'll definitely get him back. We'll make sure of it."

"I can help, Mum." I frowned.

"We don't want you in danger, Kel." Rhoan stated, backing her up.

"Whoa, back up, what is this? Keep Kel as a baby day? I'm not a tiny little kid anymore. I can take care of myself." I narrowed my eyes. "If this happened to you and Mum, you wouldn't even be here. You'd be out there looking for the one in trouble. That's exactly what I'm doing."

"Kel, we've had more experience than you, just leave it to us." Dad asked.

"No."

"Kelryn." Quinn warned narrowing his eyes.

"No." I persisted. "I've let you guys baby us enough. I'm going to look for him. I can't just sit here and do nothing. You can't possibly expect me to do that."

"Well you better believe it because we'll place you under house arrest if we have to." Mum threatened.

"You can try." I stood feeling my anger rise. I felt Quinn trying to calm me down but I refused and threw the emotion right back at him. He winced and there was tension in the house for a moment until the doorbell rang. I went to get it and I was somewhat surprised to see a stranger standing at the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Uh… can I help you?" I asked with arched brows.

"I'm looking for Riley, little Ray," he smiled pleasantly down at me and I felt even more confused. How on earth did he know my nickname? When I stared at him more closely, I felt the probe of recognition but I couldn't pin it.

"Oi Mum some fit wolf is at the door for you!" I hollered and stepped to the side to let him in.

"Harris!" she said, obviously surprised too. "What brings you here?"

"I just got back and I heard about what happened so I'm here to offer my help," he smiled as he caught her in a hug. I frowned again. From the way the two acted, it was obvious they knew each other quite well so how come I had no idea who he was? This didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"Hello Harris." Dad smiled as he walked out of the kitchen to greet our guest.

"Okay, you're all obviously having a reunion or something so I'm out." I rolled my eyes and stomped upstairs.

"What's wrong with little Ray?" I heard the wolf called Harris ask.

"She's angry because we don't want her to do anything dangerous." Mum sighed.

"She's your kid; of course she's going to do things the hard way." Harris laughed. "It runs in the genes doesn't it?"

"That doesn't stop us from wanting to keep her safe for as long as possible. I don't want Jack to get anywhere near her for another decade." Mum scoffed. Then I couldn't hear anymore because they'd moved to the conservatory which was a sound proofed room. I sighed in frustration and called Jared.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey, before you ask, I'm fine." I told him.

"That's good to hear. I'm nearly at yours."

"You didn't have to cut your holiday short because of me."

"Well with you gone, I was stuck as the third wheel having to watch Melinda and Chris make out. That's not what I call a holiday, that's what I call hell. So what happened?"

"Kade's missing."

"What?!" he shouted.

"Yeah, he's missing and I just about got into a fight with Mum because I refuse to sit back and do nothing. How about I meet you for coffee? My treat."

"Well since you're paying then I'm in," he agreed. "Same place?"

"Same place." I nodded before hanging up. I dug around in my wardrobe for a pair of flats before leaving the house. I understood that everyone was trying to look out for me and keep me safe, but asking me to sit back and let them do the work while _my twin_ was out there missing and being tortured was just ridiculous. Sure they had more experience than I did but that was to be expected, they were my parents after all. Still, that didn't mean that I couldn't do well enough to find my twin. I had my own personal fire power and I wasn't afraid to use it if people got in my way as the vampire last night learned the hard way.

I decided to walk to the café that Jared and I often went and as usual when I passed a specific building I couldn't stop and stare. It was a place that I'd passed many times before in my life time and each time I passed I would often stop and stare at it. There was something about it that seemed odd. It didn't help that I could always sense a bunch of vampires in there. I had no idea what that place was but it always had been shivering whenever I passed it. The presence of vampires wasn't just a dozen or two, it was more around fifty. I'd never heard of a place where so many vampires accumulated so I didn't even want to know what the place was. I'd asked Mum once what it was but she'd simply told me to stay away from it. From the feel of the place, I was glad to comply with _that_ particular request of my mum. After all, who in their right mind would voluntarily venture into a building manifested by vampires?

Eventually I broke my gaze away from the building but this time, I couldn't help but feel like someone within was watching me. I shook the feeling away and continued walking. Since I arrived before he did I sat down in one of the corner booths beside the window and ordered my coffee and muffin. Thanks to the argument at home, I hadn't finished my breakfast and I was starving. Half way through my muffin Jared arrived looking slightly dishevelled, probably due to the long drive back. His chocolate brown hair spiked at random places, his warm dark eyes that a girl could just drown in had bags underneath them and his clothes were slightly rumpled. He was wearing a tight fitting shirt and a pair of jeans and trainers. Although he was obviously tired, his eyes still sparkled like always.

"Jared!" I squealed as I stood up and hugged him kissing his cheek in greeting. "Thanks for bringing my stuff down." I smiled as I took my duffle bag from him.

"That's alright. You want to talk about what happened?" he asked worriedly. "I reckon you've just woken up but you still look somewhat haunted."

"I can't be normal while knowing that Kade is in danger." I sighed. "I'll buy you a coffee but do you mind if we get it to go? I can't really talk about what happened in the open so how does going back to your place sound? You can even take a break from driving, I'll take the driver's seat."

"Sounds like a plan," he nodded with a grateful grin. We headed to the counter and I paid for his coffee before we walked to his car.

"So how were things after my sudden take off?"

"Melinda and Chris were concerned but passed it off as a wolf thing. I wasn't so convinced and I was right," he glanced at me with open concern. "How're you holding up?"

"I'm managing, but I just about lost it with my family when they told me that they would practically put me under house arrest to keep me away from this. Whatever 'this' is." I sighed. "I can't sit back and do nothing about this. I won't."

"Ray, deep breaths girl," he whispered with a soothing tone as he placed a hand on mine as my hands seemed to tighten around the steering wheel so tightly that the skin over my knuckles were growing white. I took a deep breath before letting out a shuddery breath. "Better?"

"A little." I nodded stiffly but it was obvious to the both of us that I was obviously still feeling mad about this topic. My foot slowly flattened on the accelerator and we arrived at his apartment in record time. I must've gone through about five red lights but at that particular moment, I just couldn't bring myself to care. There was so much on my mind right now.

The primary concern was of course: where the fuck was my twin?

I hated the feeling of not knowing whether he was safe or not. The uncertainly and insecurity tore at me. I had to know if he was safe or not. I suppose that one small mercy was that at least I knew that he was still alive. I hadn't felt anything more from him other than the small thrum of a presence there lingering in my mind which signified that he was still alive.

But for how long?

Whoever that crazy woman was, I knew that she got off on pain. How much longer would Kade have before she decided to step up to the next level? How long did I have before this game of hers reached death? And not just any death. My _twin's death._

I dropped Jared off at the front door and let him run on ahead to open the door of his apartment while I went to find somewhere to park. I let him run on ahead first because in my haze of anger, it was likely that if I reached his apartment and found the door locked, I'd break the door down to get in whilst knowing that he had the key. I drove around the block once before seeing someone get out of a space and drive away from the curb. At the first chance that I got, I swerved the car so that it became parallel with the sidewalk when it stopped.

I took several more deep breaths before getting out of the silver Mercedes convertible and locked it before I headed towards the apartment block. I gave a wave to the guard on duty and a tight smile in greeting. I'd been here so many times that I knew the three guards who rotated the shifts by name. Ronnie gave a friendly smile in return as I dashed past him and instead of taking the elevator, I took the stairs two at a time to the tenth floor in an attempt to sooth my nerves.

Did that work?

Nope.

By the time I reached Jared's front door, it was open and he leaned casually against it as he eyed me carefully. His hands reached out and a heartbeat later I was up against the back of his door with his lips moulded over mine in a fierce and dominant kiss.

My hormones immediately spiralled out of my control and my hands buried themselves into his lush bed hair that I could never get enough of. I moaned with pleasure as his leg settled between mine and his body pressed into mine even more than it did before. My moan gave all the encouragement he needed and his tongue plunged into my mouth. Our tongues danced, tackled, weaved and probed each other's mouths as our lips moved in sync with one another.

Eventually he broke the kiss and rested his forehead on mine as we stared at each other intensely with laboured breaths. Neither of us spoke. But we didn't need to. He knew how I felt without me having to explain it in words. The understanding was there in the black depths of his eyes as he gazed soulfully into mine. He gave a gentle peck on the tip of my nose and took my hand lightly in his.

Jared's ability to show such tenderness always stunned and amazed me. He could be wholly passionate and rough one moment, and then become such a gentleman the next. He tugged me towards him and we made our way over to his velvet sofa. As he sat he eased me over him so that my knees were on either sides of his hips and he tucked my head to his chest so that I could hear his erratic heartbeat after the kiss we'd just shared.

We simply sat there with our arms wrapped snuggled around each other's waists. One of his hands was pressing soothing circles into my side while the other drew circles on my lower back. I closed my eyes for a brief moment and merely relaxed under his touch.

Ever since I met Jared, he'd always had this effect on me for a very specific reason. He was a crossbreed of a type of demon that was known as an incubus and a mage. Due to the fact that he was only half incubus, it meant that he wasn't dependant on having to drain someone else of their energy in order to survive. Instead, while normal foods satisfied him, his greatest feast was the passionate emotion of a person. It didn't matter what emotion it was so long as it was powerful.

Take earlier for example.

Because I was feeling such a heightened sense of frustration, worry and most importantly anger, I became the greatest treat for Jared, short of having sex. However, in order to draw the emotion out and convert it into an energy that he could feast on required an intimate act of some sort. A kiss was one of the actions that would suffice. I hadn't met nor heard of demons very often in my life, but out of the rare times that I did, it seemed to me that they were a very sexual race, even more so than the wolves which was definitely saying something about their sexual lifestyle.

Through any intimate interactions, a demon could do various things. One of which was to drain the energy and or emotion of the person or people they were touching at that moment. I heard from Jared that it could easily be a highly dangerous situation if the people involved weren't careful enough because the demon could easily take too much and unintentionally drain too much therefore leading to death of the victim. Apparently there had been such cases that became hard for authorities to deal with because theoretically it wasn't murder because both sides had consented. A mere slip of control could bring an end to a life.

Thanks to Jared for being a half breed only, it meant that the chances of him killing someone unintentionally were extremely low. It was so low that it was practically impossible. I wasn't quite sure why or how, but because Jared was only half incubus, it meant that his control was tighter than Fort Knox. So unless he willed it, he wouldn't be able to inadvertently drain someone to the point of death.

From the various stories that he'd told me, I'd discovered his childhood in small parts. He'd first realised his ability to drain someone when he had his first kiss at age 12. When his partner immediately fell asleep after the kiss, he'd thought that it was his lack of experience that caused her to fall asleep and had avoided sensual contact with anyone for a while. After a long period of time, his family became somewhat worried; they were after all renowned for their slightly flirtatious nature after all. So when the son shied away from intimate contact, they were bound to be worried.

Jared's cousin: Michael, had been the one to confront him about it. Michael was a full demon unlike Jared and he was around five years older than us. It took a heavy conversation, which consisted of a little not so gentle probing and blackmailing and some fists being thrown, before Jared spoke his mind and told Michael of his embarrassing incident. Michael did nothing but laugh at him for a while which earned him a black eye but then he went on to explain that the reason the girl had fallen asleep was not due to his inexperience, but rather because he had drained her.

Jared learned to be careful afterwards so that he wouldn't drain someone at any intimate act that he did. His somewhat flirtatious personality came back with a full force and I heard various amusing stories of the different girls that he'd have each night for dates. That continued for a while before he encountered other paranormal beings that had intense auras such as mine. He eventually became satisfied with only having a couple of on-going conquests instead of having a different girl almost every night.

When I first met Jared, it had been nothing but a playful one night date at a club with intense kisses here and there. That was the night before the first day of high school. We'd both gotten totally drunk the night before and so the next morning, we both suffered from headaches. I hadn't known that we would be at the same school at first and I didn't care about it either. But then somehow, one thing led to another and we became friends. It most likely had something to do with the number of lessons that we shared and the people we hung out with.

Being mainly wolf myself, I was a fairly flirtatious and outgoing person as well. Socialising was my forte and socialise I did. It wasn't until about a year after I'd met him that I discovered the truth. We'd grown closer over that first year and he confessed to me that he'd on several occasions drained me through the kisses that we'd shared. At first, I was furious with him and refused to speak to him for an entire week. But then I realised that while he might've betrayed my trust, I did value his company far too much and so we settled that particular hurdle with me beating him to a near pulp.

I began to trust him again and I learned that other than that one particular thing, he had never betrayed me in any way. I accepted it and put it behind me. It wouldn't have been fair for me to condemn him forever for something that he couldn't really help. It was in his nature after all. It wouldn't have been fair for me to reject him purely because of what he was. It wouldn't have been fair because he accepted me for what I was even though I was probably somewhat considered a freak even within the supernatural community. Most of the people around us in our school accepted us but never wholly trusted us because we were supernatural beings. They might've socialised with us but deep down, we both knew that they feared us to an extent. It was almost as though they were always waiting for one of us to do something wrong.

On several occasions, I'd relied on Jared for help because of his draining abilities. It meant that should I ever lose control of my temper, he could help ensure that I didn't go on a massive hitting spree. In many ways, Jared was my pacifier and I was on many occasions a great feast. As I'd mentioned earlier, Jared always knew how I felt. Jared always knew how anyone around him felt for a simple reason. One of the gifts that accompanied being a demon was the ability to sense the emotions of those around them and the demon would be able to easily project any amount of pheromone they wanted to lure their prey.

"Better now?" he whispered with a deep husky voice. I could feel his breath on my hair and the rumble of his chest as he spoke.

"Much," I sighed in content. "Thank you, Jared." I lifted my head to look at him and I noticed that his eyes were still black instead of the smouldering brown that I was so used to seeing. "But it seems that the demon isn't satisfied just yet."

"Yes well the demon can wait. There are more important matters at hand," he chuckled and stroked my cheek with a hand. "Tell me everything that happened."

I told him everything down to the last detail of what had happened so far since my abrupt take off. A frown seemed to settle on his brow as I told him my dilemma.

"Your parents still want to keep you sheltered huh?" he commented lightly.

"It's completely stupid. I'm twenty-one for crying out loud not ten! Fair enough if I was still in school and under eighteen, but I'm an adult now. They can't possibly keep me sheltered for the rest of my life no matter how much they want to. It's illogical and stupid to even want to attempt."

"They've just temporarily lost one of you, I don't think that they could afford to have you go missing as well without being able to know whether you're safe or not."

"I understand their reasoning, but that doesn't mean that I have to agree with it. They have no hope in earth, heaven or hell of me staying out of this like a good little girl."

"You've never been good at being an obedient little girl," he smiled sensually and slowly caressed my thigh. The action brought the fire back and I felt my body begin to warm under his touch.

"That's beside the point Jared, considering the company that I have, it was hard to be a good girl." I scoffed. "Another thing has been bugging me lately as well and I'm not the only one who's noticed it. Kade knows that there's something rather important that they haven't told us yet and they all seem to keeping us away from something. What that could be, neither of us have a clue." I sighed.

"There're various things that your parents could be keeping you away from Ray."

"But this is something that's really important. I can feel it. Not to mention, today, a total stranger turned up on our doorstep asking to see Mum. Everyone seemed to know who he was apart from me. It was weird though, it felt as though I should remember him from somewhere but no matter how much I tried to think about it, I just couldn't remember where I'd seen him from. It didn't help that he seemed to know me well enough to call me by my nickname."

"What? He called you 'little Ray'?"

"Yeah. He was a wolf and obviously a good family friend. So if he was, then why don't I know him well enough to remember him? Also, he knows about Kade's disappearance. He would have to be a _really_ close and trustworthy friend if they called for his help so soon after the disappearance."

"I have to agree that that does seem a little odd. You're probably right about the fact that your parents are hiding something from you."

"And it's a secret that they've kept since our birth too." I pointed out. "They've kept secrets from us before, but nothing nearly as big as this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, secrets could be minor or major right? Like if I stole some cookies from a jar or something, that'd be something that's minor. Whereas, I slept with your best friend or something, that'd be a bigger secret right?"

"So basically, you're saying that whatever this secret is, will affect your lives quite a lot."

"Precisely." I nodded. "Normally, I let them get away with their secrets, but not this time."

"Because this is a secret that will most likely change your life forever right?" he asked as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear with a gentle caress.

"I want to find out who it is that Mum normally turns to for help when it comes to pinches."

"You mean like the times when you would randomly be kidnapped?"

"Exactly like those, I have a feeling that Mum has been getting outside help from someone somehow and I want to know who."

"Be careful Ray, you have that tone again."

"What tone?" I frowned.

"The tone of when you're about to do something completely crazy and probably out of your league."

"I resent that, I rarely do stuff that's out of my league."

"That's only because somehow you prevail and manage to turn your goal into something doable," he scoffed. "I don't know how you've managed each time but I'm glad that you have. But do be careful with this one Ray, whatever this is, it's not normal."

"That's your instincts isn't it?" I gazed at him carefully and saw the worry that he had in his eyes. Whatever he was sensing can't have been good to trigger such a concern from him. Normally, Jared was usually quite carefree and happy to accompany me for whatever insane task I felt like completing. But this? Whatever this was, it was making him very cautious and if Jared got cautious, that meant that I should too. I've known him too long to doubt his instincts and warnings now.

"Do you remember how I mentioned that there seemed to be a shadow that surrounded you?"

"You mean when we met for the first time at the club?"

"Yes."

"I vaguely remember it. You said that trouble seemed to follow me almost wherever and whenever."

"That shadow has recently thickened and I wasn't sure whether I should say anything about it or not but it's obvious that I should've."

"Ya think?" I glared at him with sarcasm dripping from my tones. "So basically something major is going to happen right?"

"I reckon so," he nodded. "So please be careful Ray, I don't want you to disappear or get extremely hurt."

"Hey, I've gotten by so far without any heavy scars, I'm sure I'll make it out of this one just fine. And not to mention, I'll definitely get my bro back and beat the shit out of that bitch who took him away from me. Nobody, absolutely nobody has any hopes of crossing a Jenson and get away with it."

"Which is why I'm going to be with you every step of the way. I know that you won't let this go no matter what so I'll be there to help."

"Thank you Jared, but I can't drag you into too much danger, it's wouldn't be fair."

"Yeah, and if I don't protect you, Kade is going to slaughter me when we get him back."

"My brother is quite the protective one isn't he?"

"Even more than you are over him and that's definitely saying something," he scoffed.

"Hey, there's nothing weird about my protectiveness about my family." I pouted.

"I didn't say that there was," he chuckled. "It's your undying desire to protect others that attracted me so much."

I stared at him as he gave me an intense stare. His eyes were filled with a promise of protection, love and unadulterated desire. A desire that was so deep that had the wolf within me groaning with need. With just his gaze I could feel a heat growing within, a heat that wanted to be sated. _Needed_ to be sated. Before I went mad.


End file.
